— Τι περιμένουμε στην αγορά συναθροισμένοι; Είναι οι βάρβαροι να φθάσουν σήμερα. - Konstantinos P. Cavafy

...I sit and gaze like this for a long time,
recovering through art from the effort of creating it.

He Vows Every now and then he vows to live a better life.
But when night comes with her own counsels,
with her promises and her compromises,
when night comes with her power
over the body that seeks and yearns,
he returns, lost, to the same fatal pleasures.

But the old mirror that during all the many years / of its existence had looked upon / thousands of objects and faces, / the old mirror was happy now, / filled with the satisfaction that it had received, / if only for a few minutes, beauty in all its perfection.